Type 1 diabetes is a common condition experienced by millions of people, and while insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors (CGM) can help those who deal with this condition, there’s a lot of room for improvement. For example, unlike the connected nature of technological devices in almost every other sector, insulin pumps and CGMs are not connected with each other and not automated, which means dealing with type 1 diabetes on a daily basis can be stressful and cumbersome. Having been diagnosed as a teenager, Dana Lewis set out to change this, taking it upon herself to leverage open source code and thereby access her glucose information in real time. She built a predictive algorithm that would allow for her insulin pump and CGM to work together in a closed system in order to deliver results to a phone or computer regarding the need for an increase or decrease in insulin.

Lewis is wealth of knowledge on the topic, discussing the challenges and risks posed by type 1 diabetes and why the need for the technology she’s developed is critical, why this technology has not already been developed in the health care sector, misconceptions regarding the way the insulin pumps and CGMs work, and how the technology has significantly improved her quality of life.

Tune in and find more information on this topic at https://openaps.org/.

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